President congratulates Johnson on becoming next PM

European Union – Statement to the press by M. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic, and Ms Ursula von der Leyen, President-elect of the European Commission – Remarks by M. Macron

Paris, 23 July 2019

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I’d just like to say a few words to thank Theresa May for the good work we’ve done together all these past years. She took office at a difficult time following the referendum, and she’s worked with us all these years with great courage and dignity. She’s never obstructed the workings of the European Union, and she’s tried to serve British interests as well as possible, with extreme loyalty to what the British people expressed. I want to pay tribute to her here.

British democracy is functioning, and in particular the life of the Conservative Party, and so I congratulate Boris Johnson on this result. I’ll call him as soon as he’s officially Prime Minister – because a procedure is now going to be triggered – and I’m very keen to work with him as soon as possible, not only on our European issues and the continuation of the Brexit negotiations, of course, but also on the international issues that concern us daily and on which we coordinate closely, in particular with the British and the Germans, whether it be the situation in Iran or international security issues. And so I warmly congratulate Boris Johnson and I hope we can work together as soon as possible. Thank you./.